Dreaming the Daydream
by Lithuris
Summary: A boy dreaming of better things...


Was it wrong for me to believe in the other things out there?  
  
Or to fall into darkness...  
  
To bath in it's infinite power...?  
  
"Dustin...remember when we use to sit out here on the dock, and wonder if there were other worlds out there...?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"Do you still believe it...?"  
  
"No...Not to be negative or anything but no, I don't"  
  
I stared at the stars then, not wanting to let my wild imagination slip away from me. It wasn't wrong was it? For me to remain simple, and my mind clean...Free from the boundaries of the world. Looking down into the dark water, below my hanging feet, I closed my eyes and stared at the blackness in stubborn silence. I refused to let another steal my dreams. I refused to let another take away what joy I got out of life...I wouldnt let anyone take from me, what I had worked so hard to get...Grasping my wooden bokken sword tightly, I stood up, swaying slightly in the wind. For some reason, the stars seemed just alittle brighter...  
  
"Where we going...?"  
  
I looked off and spoke silently, mocking the words he had spoken just as we had sat down on the dock.  
  
"Inside...Theres nothing to do out here anyway, and the stars aren't that bright tonight anyway..."  
  
I dragged my feet...sat in front of the computer, and began to type away...The sound of the keyboard droning on and on...Slowly, I found myself asleep...  
  
"Do you still believe it...?"  
  
"No..."  
  
They echoed in my sleep...  
  
Those words...  
  
I felt the pain, the world I lived in, come crashing down into oblivion...Down into the nothingness...  
  
The darkness was beautiful...  
  
Overwhelmingly beautiful...  
  
And the stars...Oh how they shown  
  
Engulfed in the infinite darkness  
  
Simply, I thought, the dark could ingulf them...  
  
Engulf their beauty...engulf the light...  
  
I woke up with Sympathy for the Devil playing...Ironic...dark, the devil...you know. Standing up and stretching, I looked to the couch, grinning alittle as Dustin sprawled his legs over the back of it. Stepping over our video games, and random objects, I stumbled a bit and fell. Slamming hard on my face, my ear pressed against the ground, I winced in pain...It wasn't like it hurt or anything...just surprised me...  
  
But I was in for a major surprise when I looked up...  
  
  
  
Stumbling to my feet, I screamed and fell backwards, a shrouded figures hand following me all the way day, reaching for my neck...Or was it my hand? I soon found out, a cold piercing feeling grasping at my chest...Closing my eyes, I whimpered...I felt something creeping around inside of me...I felt something "crawl" inside of me. And soon after that, it was over...  
  
And I wasn't sure whether I dreamed it or not...  
  
Standing, I looked around. I felt normal...Everything looked normal...  
  
What had changed?  
  
-Later-  
  
I ran, the wind not doing too well at slowing me down, my sword gripped tightly in my hand. Stopping for a split second to up myself into a defensive position, I felt his halberd come crashing down, the wood hitting wood, creating a dull hollow sound. He slid the "blade" of his weapon down mine, it locking against the gaurd of my sword. We struggled for a near two seconds before both of us jumped back to recover, me stumbling a bit over a uncovered tree root. Regaining stability, I jumped back again from a few thrusts aimed at my face, and slapped our blades together, throwing his away from my body. I saw my chance, his arm and weapon both far away...I had one easy chance to strike him down on this simple thrust...And I went for it.  
  
Just as the tip of my weapon struck his ribs, his halberd came crashing into mine, the lower edge digging into my flesh. But afterall, since it was wood, I recovered quickly, and stepped back. I smiled, and Dustin smiled back. It had been one of our better fights. Holding out my hand, he shook it, one time hard, and began walking back to my house.  
  
"The house or the dock" he asked  
  
I had wanted the dock...  
  
"I dunno...the house I guess"  
  
I felt it...The cold feeling...The sickening cold...But I trudged on, not noticing how badly my fingers were shaking...Or how tightly my hand gripped my sword....  
  
I flopped down on my bed, closing my eyes, gazing at the darkness again. My ribs burned, and my hand callouses bled slightly...But it all seemed worthwhile...I felt calm, at peace...and in a way, the dark seemed to swirl, to call to me in a way I had never seen before. The color patches werent there anymore...This was pure darkness...  
  
And it scared me  
  
Gasping for air, I sat straight up in my bed so quickly, I fell off just as System of a Downs "Chop Suey" began with "wake up"...Dustin looked at me from my chair and immediatly kind of jogged over to me...I lay there, not having the strength to lift myself up...I felt my eyelids close...I felt myself slipping...I wanted to scream...  
  
"Nick...!"  
  
He kept on...for a good hour...or so it seemed...I couldnt gauge time...I just...  
  
I fell into darkness  
  
And I couldnt see the light  
  
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The sound of my heart...  
  
When everything else faded  
  
And the lights had dimmed from sight  
  
I was left alone...  
  
Not even the sound of my heart  
  
Could be heard...  
  
It was this way for a while...Fading in and out of the darkness, its swirling infinity shrouding my gaze from the outside world. I caught glimpses of everything going on every now and then...Hospital walls...The sound of voices...Someone sobbing...But eventually  
  
The dark always returned  
  
I found peace in it...  
  
It cooled the firery rage inside my soul  
  
My anger  
  
My pain  
  
And all of my sorrow  
  
But all good things come to an end...  
  
I felt something wet hit my face...On the outside world...  
  
The...outside world?  
  
I sat up straight, clinging to the hand that hand been touching at my arm. I looked to the person, and saw it was a stranger...It was burning hot inside the hospital...The heat was sickening...What was wrong with me?   
  
"Why were you crying..."  
  
She looked like a nurse...She had on the outfit and such, so I guess she was the one who would come in and check on me...  
  
"It's...nothing"  
  
And she walked out...  
  
I climbed from the bed, soaked in sweat from head to toe. There were no lights inside the room, the only source of it that was available was coming through a barred window. What had I been doing...Since I was away? I stood on tip toes to catch glimpses outside, and jumped back, clawing at my eyes. The sunlight burned, worst than fire...I walked backwards away from it, back to the bed, and laid back down...I drifted slowly back to sleep...  
  
I found myself falling...Through a endless stream of stars, the current throwing me left and right, my head swirling, my eyes unable to focus. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't find my voice...The feeling was horrible, almost like hanging onto a roller coaster when you slipped from the straps, in midair...But slowly...It stopped, it slowed down...  
  
It stopped  
  
Until I found myself just held...stuck, in the dark...  
  
The stars flickered on and off...  
  
Stars...or were they eyes?  
  
A hand grasped my collar, and brought me out from the water. It was amazingly dark, and I couldn't even see my flailing arms in front of my face. I heard soft wheezing noises, and garbled laughter as I coughed and spat water that came dripping over my face. And yet once again, the feeling struck me...The cold feeling in my chest, and quite suddenly, I felt bloated...Filled up. But my vision slowly came to, the dark falling away like dark fog, and I saw I was in a cavern, illuminated with black and blue crystals, the pattern of water waving around on the beautfiul barrier...And I looked down, wiggling my feet in the water, and gasped as I came face to face with a small figure, coming up to my waist with a gigantic head, and large yellow stars for eyes...The stars...eyes?  
  
I realized I had been in a river of these things...  
  
And they were all rising from the water as I did myself...  
  
I turned around, slowly and cautiously, to view the person who had pulled me from the water...And there stood a boy, about my same age, and height, with deep aluring eyes...Pale blue, same as his hair. His mouth was set in a frown, showing distaste at what he saw before him, his arms crossed over his chest. But he stepped up to me and held out his hand, and I stared at it for a few seconds at awe...Her he was, standing in a river of...of things, ready to make pleasantries with me...  
  
"My name is Riku"  
  
He sounded distant...He seemed so far away...But I reached out and took his hand  
  
"Nicholas"  
  
And he clenched my palm, crushing it almost in his grasp...I struggled for air, but found I couldn't breath, as suddenly, we were shrouded in darkness...Wind was all around, blowing at our face, me squinting in the breeze, and he looking as though nothing at all was happening...And suddenly, I found myself in a large stain-glassed room...and in the pictures, were what appered to be princesses...  
  
"Welcome Nicholas, to Hollow Bastion"  
  
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Ansem...  
  
A God of darkness...  
  
He toys with it...  
  
Uses it...  
  
Molds it...  
  
Transforms it into his pleasures...  
  
Heartless...  
  
This is what he did to me...  
  
As I was filled from head to toe with the dark light, I stood shaking, looking back and forth from Ansem to Riku, whose eyes surprisingly showed sympathy. Im able to admit that I foolishly cried alittle, as the light was taken from what was left of my heart, which Ansem had destroyed the day I had seen his hand headed for my chest...I felt the dark coursing through my veins, felt it fill my soul, felt is crawling under my skin, begging me to set it free...  
  
Those who seek the dark have no idea what it's like...  
  
It's not game  
  
No toy  
  
Not to a ordinary person...  
  
Those who seek the dark, rather than light, would piss their pants at the horrendous trials I had to overcome...  
  
I came face to face with Death...  
  
Insanity...  
  
Self doubt...  
  
And countless injuries as I attempted to rid myself of the pain...  
  
My body, Riku said, needed time to adjust...To change...  
  
He was always there...he understood...  
  
You  
  
Wouldn't...  
  
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Soon, visits from Riku lessend...  
  
We saw eachother every now and then as Ansem struggled with my training...  
  
But I never had a chance to speak to him again...  
  
The figure who instead took his place was a dark man...  
  
A man who killed without regard...  
  
A man who, like Ansem, was nothing but a torn soul...  
  
Patched with the dark light...  
  
Sephiroth...  
  
He was now my master, and I had no choice but to follow his orders, though my fury blazed out of control sometimes, and I found myself sending my own heartless after him...  
  
I was usually punished for this...  
  
But Ansem found pleasure in it...  
  
I was taught how to actually use a sword...How to use it to kill...I was taught self control, patience...  
  
I was equipped with a soul made of torn souls...  
  
A sword that, though of lesser power than Rikus mock keyblade...  
  
And Sephiroths blade, made purely from sin...  
  
And even the hand of Ansem...  
  
I had a sword that could create confusion...  
  
Fill one with pain...  
  
Take away anyones worries, and fill another with them...  
  
My weapon, my Demon Fang, was always full...  
  
It was always filled with my worries...  
  
My confusion...  
  
My pain...  
  
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Sephiroth was a amazing swordsman. There was no way I could touch him, without damage being dealt in return. His blade crashed against my own, creating a series of sparks, flying in the air light frightened butterflies. The darkness that crashed against into eachother with this blow blew against eachother, creating a whirlwind effect, the wind blowing at our faces harder and harder until I was forced to give up and jump away from him in a desperate attempt to survive. Wings erupted from both my shoulder blades, and pushed at the air until I was far enough away to be considered safe...They dissapeared in a flash as I jumped back into action. I glided through the air until overhead of Sephiroth ( he stood waiting for me, always being the cocky one during our fights ), and used what control I had of the dark light to throw myself down at him, faster than the blink of an eye. I landed onto the ground, smashing my blade into the ground...I had missed, and he had narrowly eascaped, as I saw in his eyes when I looked up. The back of his hand came towards my cheek, and I flew from my feet, doing serveral failed attempts to recover, going limp onto the ground...  
  
"You've failed again..."  
  
I spat at him...  
  
"Your too good Sephiroth. I wouldn't be surprised if Ansem had a hard time with you as well..."  
  
He smiled and picked me up by the collar of my clothes...  
  
"Even if he did, Im positive Ansem would last much longer than thirty seconds against me"  
  
Our conversations usually went no further than this...  
  
He was nothing more than a stranger...  
  
Whose name I knew...  
  
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"So this Cloud guy and Sephiroth both have a rivalry thing going on"  
  
Riku bit into his apple, shrugging slightly  
  
"I don't know...I just know what I've heard, and all I've heard is that Seph and Cloud both really hate eachother. For what reason, I honestly don't know"  
  
He stood up and yawns, stiffly stretching, and I followed suit, picking up my sword and giving it a few swings to wake myself up. Me and Riku had decided to make well of our freetime, as we barley got any...He being under Melificants rule, and I Sephiroths...We slowly began walking towards the black hole that would take us away from the sunny world of Hundred Acre Wood, and back to Hollow Bastion...  
  
"Is there a target for today"  
  
He nodded curtly, and make a few small clicking noises with his mouth  
  
"Traverse Town"  
  
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Traverse is where I first ran into Sora  
  
Me and Riku both stumbled into him completely by accident...  
  
And he ruined everything  
  
For me and RIku both  
  
I remember telling Riku I had no intention of letting Sephiroth down, now that I was under his command...  
  
Riku told me not to fall into the dark  
  
Not to close my eyes for too long  
  
Not to think so negativly all the time  
  
For some reason...I dont portray Riku as a dark person  
  
He...Is light  
  
Surrounded completely by darkness...  
  
Like the stars...  
  
I remember him telling me  
  
"The more worlds us and the heartless destroy...The less time it will take to get Kairi back..."  
  
Kairi...  
  
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Sora was an amazing fighter, to say the least...He easily took down every heartless I sent after him, with the greatest of ease. I winced, knowing what was to happen if I failed Sephiroth again...I knew what would happen if I didn't get rid of Sora now and take the keyblade...But everything I did was useless...I considered going after Sora myself...And I was almost readily about to jump from the roof where I watched below but...  
  
"Sora is my friend...Don't hurt him"  
  
I turned to Riku and lifted an eyebrow...  
  
"He's my prey"  
  
And I watched as they exchanged words below me...I didn't understand what was going on, but Sora was refusing Riku...  
  
No choice...I had to return...There was no point in my staying much longer...  
  
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What stood before me...  
  
I had no comprhension of the scene before me...  
  
Until I saw his face...  
  
"Dustin...!"  
  
I ran over to Ansem and grabbed his wrist before he could tear out the heart of my friend...  
  
"You can't do this to him, he'll die and you'll just have wasted another life...!"  
  
Ansem smirked  
  
"And whats another life, compared to the many you have taken"  
  
I went wide eyed...  
  
"All in your name"  
  
"But not by my hands"  
  
"You gave me this power"  
  
"And you used it as you saw fit"  
  
"I had no choice"  
  
"You did...and you chose darkness"  
  
I whipped out my Demon Fang and thrust it through Ansems heart...but it didn't phaze him in the least...He grabbed the blade and merely pushed it in further, laughing in my face. I pulled away before he could attack me, and stood at the ready. Ansem began gliding in mid-air before me, laughing all the while, while a whole legion of Heartless surrounded me. I smirked...They were no match for me...Not anymore...Holding out my blade, I took out the advancing Heartless one by one, until there was but one, and he ran away frightened...Ansem clapped in my favor, and I spat at him...  
  
I wasn't prepared for what happened next...  
  
He was in front of me in the blink of an eye, sending his knee at my chest. I coughed and fell over his thigh, where he then clenched his hands together and brought them down like stones onto my back. I tasted blood in my throat, but refused to give up...I kept my eyes open, not willing to give into the darkness shadowing me, clouding my vision...Ansem dropped my body to the floor and kicked it, sending my through one of the stain glassed windows, and onto a platform outside...I rolled several feet before standing and who did I see before me?  
  
Sephiroth...With both wings out, covering his body like a shield...  
  
Hiding the malicious blade behind them...  
  
As soon as Ansem appeared into view, their eyes locked, and in a blaze of fury, Sephiroth attacked. Moving faster than I could see, the two delivered countless blow to the other, Seph with his blade, and Ansem with his bare hands...I clenched my sword tighter, having never let it go, and began running towards the fight, but because the clashing of dark light was so strong, it kept pushing me farther and farther away until I stood at the very edge of the platform...Not long after, I saw Sephiroth fall to his knees, his blade falling a few feet away...Ansem landed onto his back, grabbed on of his wings, and laughed in his ear...  
  
"I gave you power...and you betray me?!"  
  
Ansem ripped off one of Sephiroths wings...Blood splattered everywhere, landing onto the fallen feathers from Sephiroths defeat...  
  
He reached for the other wing...  
  
"Ansem...!"  
  
He turned around to me, his smile melting away into a frown as my blade connected with his chest...He looked straight into my face  
  
"I am darkness...You cannot defeat me...I made you...You are heartless! You are dark! You fight for me...!"  
  
I expanded my wings, gripped my blade, and prepared myself...  
  
"For the longest time Ansem, I have fought for you...I have given you my all, my body and soul, to do as you like, so you may one day rule all there is to rule...But I discovered, Ansem, that no matter how hard you may try, like it or not, there will always be light..."  
  
I braced myself...  
  
"Sephiroth showed me that...Without light, there is no darkness"  
  
And instead of the rally of pain I was expecting, something different happened...The odd "tinted" vision I had developed ever since becoming dark faded...My skin no longer crawled, and my mind was no longer filled with voices not of my own...My hand glew with a strange glow, and I let my dark blade drop, extending my hand towards Ansems heart...He screeched out in pain...  
  
I had a choice now...I could go...I had crippled him, for the time being...He no longer had no hold on me...  
  
He laid there holding his chest, dark light fuming from his mouth...It was so strong I could smell it...  
  
"I know what lies behind the door boy...I know what is there...and when I get there, I will be invincible...And I will come after you...!"  
  
I don't remember running...I just know I did...  
  
But one thing I do remember...  
  
Riku...watching the entire time...  
  
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I opened my eyes...Had I nodded off...?  
  
Water...  
  
The dock...  
  
I had been sleeping...  
  
Dustin came and sat down beside me, and followed my gaze up to the stars...  
  
"Dustin...remember when we use to sit out here on the dock, and wonder if there were other worlds out there...?"  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"Do you still believe it...?"  
  
"No...Not to be negative or anything but no, I don't"  
  
...  
  
I refused to let another take away what joy I got out of life...  
  
"I think there is..."  
  
He stood up, and I followed  
  
"Maybe" 


End file.
